1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combi-card (or a dual-interface card), i.e. a combination type IC card, which can be used in either contact and non-contact manner, and a communication system using the same, and more particularly, to a combi-card which uses no electrical connection process such as conductive glue, wire bonding and soldering, is producible with a simple process, has a very low fraction defective on production and also has a very high durability, and a communication system using the same which can expand a communication range of the combi-card and prevent communication error.
2. Description of Related Art
A combi-card tends to be widely used in various fields of communication, finance, traffic, electronic business and so on. Such card which supports both contact type and non-contact type includes a combi-card and a hybrid card.
These two cards are common in that they contact type and non-contact type interfaces, but they differ in structure.
The hybrid card is the card in which physically separate contact type card and non-contact type card are present within a single card, and it can supports both contact type and non-contact type but should be equipped with separate hardware and software resources for contact type and non-contact type.
On the contrary, the combi-card is the card of the type that the contact type card and non-contact type card share commonly usable portions, and it is now mainly used in the electronic money market since it can affect incorporation of different kinds of applications through the share of internal resources.
FIG. 1 is one example showing a method of fabricating a conventional combi-card; an antenna insertion sheet is formed with an antenna coil and a connection terminal for the antenna coil is formed in the region where an IC chip module (a Chip On Board (COB) provided with an IC chip and an IC terminal) is located. After that, a plurality of sheets including a lower print sheet, the antenna coil insertion sheet, an upper print sheet and an upper protection sheet is stacked and subject to heat and pressure to form a single thin film, and the thin film is then milled until the connection terminal of the antenna coil is exposed, to form a recess region, and the exposed connection terminal of the antenna coil is applied with a conductive glue and then electrically connected with the IC chip module, thereby fabricating the combi-card.
In the conventional combi-card shown in FIG. 1, electrical connection between the IC chip module and the antenna coil and physical attachment of the IC chip module are accomplished by the conductive glue, and there is a problem that dry condition, conductivity and adhesiveness according to the use of the conductive glue can not meet the requirements necessary for the use of the card.
Since although a conventional conductive glue meets a curing condition to make firm adhesion only when heat of about 150° C. and a predetermined pressure are applied for about 30 minutes, heat of 150 to 200° C. and a predetermined pressure are applied for 1 to 2 seconds in consideration of a thermal deformation of a card upon the fabrication of the card and this adhering condition can not meet the curing condition of the glue, the glue is naturally shrunken to generate crack on the adhesive face while the glue is cured after the IC chip module is attached, and the adhesive strength is reduced by the generated crack, thereby causing a problem in connection between the terminal of the IC chip module and a contact of the antenna coil.
In a method of fabricating a combi-card to overcome the aforementioned problem, “method of forming a dual-interface IC card and a card formed of such a method” (Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2002-0062198), in which a contact of an antenna coil and a terminal of a IC chip module are directly soldered the without use of conductive glue as shown in FIG. 1, has been developed, but it has a problem in mass production since increased fabrication time is taken as the soldering should be implemented manually and a fraction defective may be increased depending on worker's skill.
“method for manufacturing IC card through a foil stacking” (Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2004-0049981” and “chip card and method for the production of a chip card” (Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2008-0098360”, in which an antenna coil formed in an antenna coil insertion sheet of a card and an IC chip module are directly bonded to form a combi-card inlay layer and a print layer and a protection layer are successively stacked and assembled thereon and the resulting assembly is then subject to thermal lamination, thereby processing a combi-card as shown in FIG. 2, are also used, and these methods can keep durability of connection part but have a high fraction defective in production process, thereby causing many problems in mass production.
In another method, “IC module and smart card” (U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,744), “booster antenna for IC card” (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-218624) and “IC module for IC card and IC card using the same” (Korean Patent No. 10-0381780) which are a booster type combi-card with built-in primary coil antenna having no electrical connection with an IC chip module and a secondary antenna for amplification as shown in FIG. 3, are used, but they are known to be not widely used since there are difficulties in design change of the secondary antenna and fabrication of the antenna and a technical problem in mount of the amplifying antenna onto a card in the fabrication process due to the characteristic of the amplifying antenna, and communication error occurs frequently due to power dissipation and interference during communication through the primary coil antenna, the amplifying secondary antenna and an antenna of a reader.